The Greek-born journalist Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904) lived in England and America before settling in Japan. In order to better acquaint English speakers with the breadth and creativity of Japanese culture, Hearn collected some of the folk tales and ghost stories of his adopted country and published them under the title Kwaidan—or "weird tales," which are accompanied here by three of Hearn's idiosyncratic "insect studies" of mosquitoes, butterflies, and ants.